For the third time in just under two years, the state attorney general's office will attempt to convict Hinds County's district attorney of felony charges.

Robert Shuler Smith will appear in Circuit Judge William Chapman's courtroom Monday to dispute one count each of aggravated stalking and robbery and two counts of domestic violence.

The trial will be in a Rankin County courtroom, an unfamiliar county for the beleaguered district attorney.

The key question on everyone's mind: Will the charges stick this time? The AG's office failed twice in Hinds County to convict Smith of conspiracy to hinder prosecution — first with a hung jury and then on Aug. 8, 2017, with an acquittal.

A lot has happened since October when the original judge in the Rankin County case, John Emfinger, ruled against Smith's attempts to dismiss the case.

The most significant development is that Atlanta attorney Michael Sterling will serve as co-lead counsel with Clinton attorney Vicki Gilliam in Smith’s legal defense. Sterling delivered the closing statements in the AG's previous unrelated case against Smith.

"We feel very good about our position and the facts in this case," Sterling said.

Smith's legal team last week attempted to have the indictment against him quashed after finding text messages between the alleged victim and main witness in the case, Christi Edwards, and the lead prosecutor, Stanley Alexander. The communication took place in July of 2015 while Alexander and Smith were squaring off as political candidates in the race for district attorney, Sterling said. Judge Chapman denied the motion at a pre-trial hearing but it raises questions about the credibility of the case, Sterling argued.

"It’s incredible to me that Jim Hood is allowing this to happen. You have the main witness complaining to Robert's political opponent, and now this two years later?" he said.

Still, there are undercurrents that don't necessarily bode well for Smith.

Smith, the district attorney of the most populous county in the state, is squaring off against Edwards, his ex-girlfriend, in court. The state is expected to call as a witness the director of a domestic-abuse shelter, who counseled Edwards after the alleged incident.

According to the Rankin County indictment, Smith took Edward's handgun — hence the robbery charge — grabbed her and threw her against a counter. He then allegedly pointed a gun at her and made threatening comments. Edwards went to the FBI with the claims, and the case was eventually turned over to the attorney general's office.

There are allegedly pictures of Edwards after the encounter, which the defense has tried to keep from admitting into evidence.

In its first two trials against Smith on conspiracy to hinder prosecution, the state argued Smith went out of his way to prevent justice from being served against defendant Christopher Butler, who was later convicted of felony possession of marijuana and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Less known is that the state originally accused Smith of attempting to do the same in another case, this time for Donald "Darnell" Turner, aka "Slick," who was later convicted of domestic violence.

Turner was arrested in April 2016 after being indicted for beating the then-22-year-old mother of one of his eight children, shooting into the vehicle she was in, and dragging her to a bridge where he strangled her before suspending her over the railing.

He is now serving 45 years in prison.

Race could play a factor

Race could be another factor in the trial. The demographics are essentially flipped from Hinds to Rankin counties.

A jury of 10 black and two white members ultimately acquitted Smith of all charges in his August 2017 trial, but not before announcing to Judge Larry Roberts that they were deadlocked 10 to 2 for acquittal.

Where Hinds County's population is close to 75 percent black and about 20 percent white, the opposite is true in Rankin County, according to the 2010 census.

Jim Waide, one of Smith's attorneys in his August trial, reflected to the Clarion Ledger his concerns about the Rankin County charges: "What they can do at this point now is try him in Rankin County with a predominantly white jury that's heard all the bad publicity that's going on in Hinds County."

Regardless, prosecutors will have their hands full with a case that's largely in a he-said-she-said scenario. Who will the jury believe?

They also will walk into the courtroom with a 0-2 record against Smith.

Additionally, Rankin County District Attorney Michael Guest said his office refused to pick up the case because of insubstantial evidence.

"In our opinion it didn't rise to the level of aggravated assault, which requires serious bodily injury," Guest said at the hearing on Reeves' dismissal motion. "It appeared to be more of a misdemeanor in nature."